Towards a popular justice in the United States: The dialectics of community action

The present crisis in crime control & legitimacy of the state is discussed as the source of new forms of citizen action for self-defense. Class position & ideology are crucial in determining what a given community will define as the main "crime problem" & what sort of relationship will develop between volunteer citizen groups & law enforcement agencies. Three types of citizen activism are described, with a range of operating examples drawn especially from groups in the Boston, Mass, area: vigilantes, auxiliaries, & popular justice organizations. The vigilantes are characteristically drawn from insecure white Wc areas & are often racist in their understanding of the crime problem. Auxiliaries generally operate with the support & guidance of regular justice agencies & are most successful in more affluent suburban areas. Popular justice groups emerge from social movements & include such activities as police campaigns, shelters for battered women, rape crisis centers, collective efforts to transform criminals & prisoners into political activists, & neighborhood/tenants associations formed to combat arson. All three types are examined in terms of their dialectic relations with state justice agencies; strategies of radical reform action are advanced. Modified AA.